“The nanosensor worked successfully in space,” said principal investigator Jing Li, a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “We demonstrated that nanosensors can survive in space conditions and the extreme vibrations and gravity change that occur during launch,” she said.

The sensors comprise carbon nanotubes coated with materials sensitive to a particular contaminant. When a trace of that substance touches the sensor, the chemical reaction causes an electric current to flow.